05-26-2024 – “Hear, Believe, Receive”

Bible Text: Luke 11:27-28 | Speaker: Pastor Mike Hale | Series: book study of Luke | Above is the links to YouTube and audio recordings.

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May 26, 2024  (AM insert)
“Hear, Believe, Receive”
Luke 11:27-28

      Read Luke 11:27-28…  “While Jesus was saying these things.”  What things? What is going on here?  Let’s back at a few verses and recap what was gong on.

See Luke 11:15-17… Some of those who opposed Jesus were saying about Him, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls.” 23, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”

You either believe in Christ, or you reject Him; your either receive Christ or you oppose Him, you either serve the cause of Christ, or you hinder it; you either share the message of Christ, or you suppress it.   

      The reality is no one is neutral when it comes to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Lord and Savior, Who was Crucified, Resurrected, and is Coming Back to take all those who believe in Him, to be with Him, in heaven, forever.

Jesus is a Greek name, Yeshua is the Hebrew rendering, both say He is the Rescuer, Deliverer, Redeemer, Savior.  He is the only way to God the Father, the only embodiment of truth from the Father, and the only eternal life with the Father; there is absolutely no other way to be saved and go to heaven.

Jesus came healing the sick and rescuing souls from the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13-14), “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins,” (Acts 2:21), “And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord [for the forgiveness of sin] will be saved,” (Acts 4:12), “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Jesus said (Matthew 11:28-30), “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Read again Luke 11:27-28…  A woman in the crowed said to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed,” i.e., Your mother is a blessed woman.  This is a marvelous commendation of Jesus by this woman, for there was a proverbial saying of the day, according to Darrell Block, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Baker Publishing, 1996), pg. 1094], that said, “a mother was valued [by] the accomplishments of her son.”

But notice Jesus’ response to the woman, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”  Interesting!

      Look at Luke 8:17-21…  Wow!  Jesus’ mother and brothers have come, and He is told that they are outside wanting to see Him.  He doesn’t say, go get them and bring them to Me; instead He says, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

 

James 1:22-25, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”

Mark 1:14-15, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”

Mark 1:17, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Jesus commanded them, “repent and believe in the gospel,” what exactly is the gospel?

I’m glad you asked (1Corinthians 15:1-4), “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

1Peter 1:23, “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”

John 1:12-13, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Romans 15:13, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1:13-14, “In [Christ], you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

2Corinthians 13:5, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?”

When you hear and understand the message of Christ, you either believe in Him, at which time all your sins are forgiven (past, present, future), and you are granted eternal life, or, you continue to reject the message of Christ, remaining dead in your sins, separated from life with God.

 

Philippians 2:1-11, “Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Ultimately everyone is going to bow and confess Jesus Christ as Lord; but only those who do so willingly, before they die, are saved from sin’s condemnation, and granted eternity in heaven with God. 

Your main purpose for living, as a child of God, is to be (Matthew 28:19-20), making disciples, identifying them with Christ in baptism, and teaching them to obey everything that is written in the Word of God about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, knowing that Jesus will never leave or forsake those who believe in Him (Romans 8:38-39), “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God’s desire is for anyone, for everyone, to have a personal and eternal relationship with Him; therefore, God’s expressed will for everyone is to be saved (repenting of sin, believing in Jesus Christ’s death as full payment for our sins).

1Timothy 2:3-4, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

2Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

      Read Matthew 12:46-50…  To further illustrate the priority and the need for a person to come to God the Father by faith in God the Son, not through heritage, religious ritual, moral behavior, or good deeds, this great passage records Jesus’ mother and brothers and sisters coming to speak with Him on a certain occasion.

It would seem that Joseph (Jesus’ legal father) was dead, and Jesus family was made up of His mother, His brothers and His sisters (Matthew 12:50), “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother,” (cf. Mark 6:3), “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?”

 

Most likely Jesus’ family members were there to persuade Him to stop speaking against the Pharisees, and to go away to a safe place for a time, until things cooled down and He was no longer a target of the Religious Leaders.

But Jesus used this opportunity to teach a marvelous truth; anyone can come into an intimate relationship with God by simply hearing and obeying God’s Word.

Even Jesus’ mother, brothers and sisters had to repent and believe in Him to be saved (Acts 2:21; Acts 4:12); everyone who believes in Him will be included in God’s family, because believing in Jesus as Savior and Lord is exactly what the Bible says we must do: John 6:29, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One [the Father] has sent.” (John 6:40) “For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life,” (John 8:24) “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the One I claim to be,” (John 10:30), “I and the Father are One.” (John 14:6-7), “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really knew Me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him,” (John:20), “you will realize that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.”

God has given us everything we need to enjoy this life, to know Him, and to serve Him here on earth, while trusting Him to bring us to heaven for eternity.

Animal sacrifices, religious rituals, attempts at moral living, Jewish heritage, and/or doing good works, cannot provide forgiveness for sin and eternal life; we must seek forgiveness for our sins, trusting in Jesus Christ to save us, and to bring us into an intimate and eternal relationship with the Father, made effectual by the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us, providing for and protecting us as we serve the God of Creation, the Sustainer, Ruler and Judge over all.

      Have you heard and believed the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ, God’s Son?  If not, why not!  The Truth is, Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; He then appeared to hundreds of His followers over a period of 40 days, after which He Ascended into heaven, from where He will return to get those who belong to Him.

John 14:1-3, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

What do you need to do to make sure you are going to heaven?

Romans 10:9-10, “Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, [and] you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he [or she] confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Romans 10:13, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved”

 

1John 5:11-13, “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Two weeks ago I taught from Ephesians 4:1-6, where Paul writes, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”

Unity is God’s Standard for the Church, that we live in Unity with one another!

In John 17, praying to the Father, Jesus said 17-18, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” 20-26, “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one…, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

 
Benediction
2Corinthians 13:14, “[May] the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

 

 

 
Pastor Mike Hale